Hydraulic Fracking Process Monitoring

Fracking, otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing, has become a word well-known with the recent expansion of oil exploration. As fracking helps to release natural substances (in this case, oil) from the earth’s rock for extraction, monitoring sensors directly at the site provide data and supervisory control for engineers and personnel controlling the fracking process.

Automation Integrator uses Comtrol for Device Connectivity

A leading integrator of factory automation and robotics solutions selected the Comtrol DeviceMaster UP 2-port 2E for a production line cell for forging spindles. In this application laser markers communicating via Ethernet TCP/IP were used to apply a serial number to the spindles.

Paint Spraying Operation Integrates IO-Link

A furniture manufacturer was in need of a time and money saving solution. This company needed something that could identify the size of sections of furniture on the paint spraying line and thus reduce over-spraying and wasting paint.

Paint Spraying Operation Integrates IO-Link

A furniture manufacturer was in need of a time and money saving solution. This company needed something that could identify the size of sections of furniture on the paint spraying line and thus reduce over-spraying and wasting paint.

Transit Surveillance Powered by PoE

Throughout North America we’ve experienced the expansion of mass transit as a growing form of transportation not only for commuters, but the general public alike. With the growing number of riders utilizing these buses, trains, and light rails each day it is crucial to ensure quality system performance throughout all areas of these platforms.

Comtrol’s RocketPort EXPRESS working in audio and video live feeds

At sporting and entertainment events instant video and audio updates are necessary. We need to know the score of the basketball game or how many personal fouls our favorite player had. Comtrol’s RocketPort Express multiport serial cards help a leading scoreboard control company make that process easier.

Comtrol Sponsors Insight Racing in DARPA Smart Car Race

Cary, N.C. — December 5, 2006 … Comtrol Corporation and Insight Racing recently announced Comtrol’s sponsorship of Insight Racing for the next DARPA Grand Challenge race, the Urban Challenge. Comtrol, maker of the DeviceMaster® family of network-enabling device servers, sponsored Insight in the 2005 Grand Challenge where Insight was a finalist.

"We are pleased to have Comtrol as a repeat sponsor. Their highly-reliable DeviceMaster helped us build a robust solution by delivering high-speed communication between sensors and our central processing," said Grayson Randall, team leader for Insight Racing. "Comtrol’s products made it easy to communicate with all sensors and computers and gave us great application versatility and added redundancy to our systems. The DeviceMaster is an outstanding product."

"Insight has a great team of minds working on their vehicle. We are excited to be a part of their sponsor line-up and are pleased to introduce our new DeviceMaster 500 as part of Insight Racing’s solution," said Mark Pikkarainen, general manager of Industrial Automation solutions at Comtrol.

Jeff Wuendry, product marketing manager for SICK USA said, "The DeviceMaster 500 is specifically designed to work with SICK® LMS sensors. This allows for real-time communication of terrain and obstacle data to the smart car’s multiple computer systems."

The DARPA Grand Challenge is a series of robotic vehicle races. Computer driven vehicles compete to demonstrate new advanced automotive control technology. The most recent Grand Challenge culminated in a 132-mile race across the Mojave Desert in the Southwest U.S. on Oct. 8, 2005. The races are sponsored by the Department of Defense and were designed to accelerate the development of vehicles that do not require a human driver.

The upcoming race is set to take place Nov. 3, 2007 and pits these smart cars and trucks against one another in a series of missions, which take place in city driving conditions. The "smart cars" will have to follow California driving rules, pass other moving vehicles, stop at intersections, and traverse traffic circles, in addition to other driving tasks. Insight recently unveiled a Lotus Elise as their vehicle for the urban challenge. The Lotus Elise was donated by Lotus Cars USA and will be modified for autonomous control by Lotus Engineering Inc.

Walt Sliva, business manager for Insight Racing said, "Insight Racing is banking on the reliability and performance of the Comtrol’s DeviceMaster. This outstanding product is key to our advanced automotive solution and its success. We are proud to work with Comtrol and believe their new product will provide another winning solution."